Steering-gear for motor-vehicles.



P. J. SMITH.

STEERING GEAR FOR MOTOR VEHICLES. APPLICATION FILED MAYH, 1916.

Patented June 5, 1917.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

P. J. SMITH.

STEERING GEAR FOR MOTOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 11, I916.

Patented June 5, 1917.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2 PAUL J. O]? BEECH CREEK, IPENNSYLV i i sumo-em non moron-vnmcms.

Application filed Kay 11, me. Serial Ho. 96,910.

To all whom z'tmay concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL J. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Beech Creek,

tain new and useful Improvements in Steering-Gear for Motor-Vehicles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,.referenoe being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to motor vehicles, and has for its object the construction of steering gear therefor, adapted to operate the front and rear wheels for the purpose of givin direction to the motor vehicle.

- The 0 jects of my invention are to provide a gear shift mechanism for the steering gear, by means of which the speed of movement of the steering operation may be diminished when desired; and also to provide such steering gear with screw mechanism "wheels of the vehicle,

steering gear.

adapted to prevent shocks sustained by the from being transmitted through the steering gear, to the hands of the operator. These and other features of my invention will appear hereinafter and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1,' is a side view partially in elevation and partially in section, showing a. motor vehicle provided with'my improved Fig. 2, is a plan view of the underside thereof.

3, isa detail partially in central sec: tion of the gear shifting mechanism.

Fig. 4:, is an enlarged view of a portion thereof illustrating its construction.

Fig. 5, is a horizontal section of another portion of my improved steering gear Fig. 6, is a vertical central sectioii of i i .5. o in these drawings A, indicates the body 1 A and A,

frame of a motor vehicle provided with front and rear steerable axles A, and A. v

For the urpose of controlling the axles case B, in which. are journaled vertical shafts'B'; and secured upon the sfts B",

within'thegear case B', are spur gear'sege' Specification of Letters Patent.

in the county of Clinton and State of Pennsylvania, have invented cer-' described, Upon the square'portion J ,fthereon, I mount a bevel gear wheel K',whioh intermeshes withithe' bevel gear H, on'th'e shaft F and the hub suspend-to the frame A, a gear of the wheel K, 'is provided with teeth k",-

ratentea June 5, i917.

ments B B asv shown in Figs. 5- and 6 of the drawings.

Journaled in the gearcase B, there is a transverse screw shaft C, upon which I place a nut C, which'is ada ted to travel h0ri- 'zontally on the screw upper and lower walls of the gear case-B, said upper and lower walls serving to pre-' aft C, between the of the nut C, as is shown in shafts B B, I secure cross bars D and D" and extending from each end of the cross is ain with rack bars bar D, to the end portions of the rear axle A are bars E E; and extending from the en ofthe cross bar I), to theend portions of the front axle A, are bars E E.

' In carrying out my invention I prefer to make the bar D, shorter than the bar I),

turned to the same extent as the front axle A, as is shown by .broken lines in Fig. 2. Experience has [demonstrated that this is desirable. y

For operating the screw shaft C, I secure thereon a miter gear F, which intermeshes' with a like miter'F, upon a shaft F which vextends forward to the steering transmission gear case G,as shown in Fig. 1. With-- in the ar case G, there is secured upon the sha F a miter hub thereof a bevel gear H. The steering shaft J, is journaled in the ar case G, (see gear H, having on the in orderv that the rear axle A will not be I Figs. 3 and 4) at right angles to the shaft F and is provided with a, square portion J, upon which a dental clutch ring J, is

slidably mounted.

Upon the shaft J, above the Square portlon J,

l[ place miter gear"K, which intermeshes. with the miter gear H, and which normally is free to rotateupon the shaft J. The hub of the miter gear K,1is pro vided with teeth is, which are adapted to in termesh with the teeth upon the :upper end of the dental clutch rin J as hereinafter as shown iii-Fig.

aft J, below "the vide a slide shaft L, which is mounted in the gear case G, and is provided with a forked arm L, which engages the slot j, in

Y the clutch ring J For operating the slide shaft L, I provide a lever L, which may be fulcrumed upon any suitable support, but I prefer to place the fulcrum L therefor,

upon the gear case G, so that there will be no lost motion between the fulcrum L and the forked arm L.

Upon the steering post M, the lower end of which is secured to the gear case G, and within which the steering shaft J, operates, I secure a short segment bar N, which is provided with notches n, a n and the lever L is provided with a latch mechanism l, which is adapted to enter the desired notch 11.; thus, when the latch Z, is in the notch 02?, the bevelgear wheel K, will be engaged by the dental clutch ring J 2 (which is the normal steering gear), but if the lever L-, is moved so that the latch Z, thereon, will enter the notch n, the clutch ring J will be raised out of engagement of the bevel gear wheel K, and into engagement with the miter-gear K, which will greatly decrease the speed of operation of the steering gear, and likewise decrease the amount of power necessary to be exerted upon the hand wheel 0, by the operator.

- WVhen the latch Z, is placed in the notch n the clutch ring J will be out of engagement with either of the gears K, or K.

In operation, when the vehicle provided with my improved. steering gear herein shown and described is traveling over a good road, the normal position of the gears is as shown in Fig. 3, with the bevel gear K, intermeshing with the bevel gear H, in which the driven shaft F will be caused to rotate much faster than the steering shaft J; when, however, the vehicle is without motion, and it becomes necessary to turn the axles, as shown in Fig. 2, before giving motion to the vehicle, in order to turn quickly away from a curb, as for instance,

when there are other vehicles standing immediately in front and behind, the lever L may be operated to place the clutch ring J in engagement of the teeth 'k, upon the miter gear K, which intermeshing with the miter gear I-Lthe said two miter gears being of equal size, will reduce the speed of the driven shaft F to the speed of the steering shaft J. thereby increasing the power of the hand wheel 0.

ence to the vertical shafts B, which lateral movement will, through the segments 13*,

cause said shafts B, to rotate in opposite directions, thereby swinging the bars D and D, as indicated by broken lines in Fig. 2, which movement of the bars D and D, is communicated to the front and rear axles, as hereinafter described.

Having thus fully shown and described the mechanism embodying my invention so as to enable others to construct and utilize the same, I do not desire to be limited to the exact construction and varrangement of mechanism herein shown and described, but what I desire to secure by Letters-Patent 1s:-

I 1. The combination in a motor vehicle, of a body frame, a pair of steerable wheels thereunder, a transversely movable rack-bar supported by said body frame, screw and 2.-The combination in a motor vehicle of a body frame, a pair of steerable wheels thereunder, a transversely movable rack-bar supported by said body frame, screw-shaft and nut mechanism for controlling said rack-bar, a vertical shaft, a gear segment mounted on said vertical shaft and inter- 'meshing with said rack-bar, a transverse bar intermediately secured on said vertical shaft, bars pivoted at the ends of said transverse bar and adapted to control said steerable wheels, a steering shaft, a driven-shaft, in-

termeshing miter-gears on said steering and driven shafts, and intermeshing miter-gears on said driven shaft and said screw-shaft, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination. in a motor vehicle steering gear, of a steering shaft, a pair of miter-gears loosely mounted on said steering shaft, clutch mechanism on said shaft between said gears adapted to alternately engage said gears, a shaft adapted to be driven thereby, a pair of miter gears of different diameters secured on said driven shaft intermeshing with the miter gears on said steering shaft, and lever and slide mechanism to operate said clutch mechanism, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination in a motor vehicle steering gear, of a steering shaft, :1 hand wheel secured thereon, a pair of gear wheels of differentdiameters rotatably secured on said shaft, a clutch ring slidably and nonrotatably secured on said shaft between said gears, a. driven shaft, a pair of gear wheels of different diameters non-rotatably secured on said driven shaft and adapted to intermesh with the gears on said steering shaft, and means to slide said clutch ring, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination in a motor vehicle steering gear, of a steering shaft, a hand wheel secured thereon, a miter-gear Wheel rotatably secured on said shaft, clutch teeth on the hub of said wheel, a clutch-ring slidably and non-rotatably secured on said shaft, clutch teeth on each end thereof, a bevel gear of less diameter than said mitergear rotatably secured on said steering shaft under sai clutch-ring, clutch teeth on the hub of said bevel gear, a driven shaft, a miter-gear non-rotatably secured thereon and intermeshing with the miter-gear on said steering shaft, a bevel gear pinion non- -rotatably secured on said driven shaft and intermeshing with the bevel gearon said steering shaft, and means to slide said clutch-ring on said steering shaft between the gears thereon, substantially as set forth. In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

PAUL J. st rrer. 

